


Till We Meet Again

by clairvoyantPeach



Category: Bleach
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe Drabbles, Boys In Love, Everything Changes per Chapter, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Requests accepted, Temporarily Unrequited Love, They Always Come Back to Life Tho, sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-17 11:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16515548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairvoyantPeach/pseuds/clairvoyantPeach
Summary: Ichigo can remember all of the lives he has lived before. He remembers life, death, love. Each life he looks for the man he's loved through countless realities. He'll live through a thousand more to be with him.I write chapters on this when I'm sad and/or bored so requests are taken and updates will be sporadic. :D





	1. First and Second

~ _The first time I met you, there was war and chaos, but we found love together anyways~_

He’s always been able to remember things he’d never actually experienced ever since he was a little boy. He remembered two younger sisters he’d never met, a father he’d never seen, a mother he’d never had, and the days they all died. He could remember the cries at his mother’s funeral when he was nine before he even turned nine. The day he became something stronger, and the girl who made him so. The wind rushing in his ears as he jumped through the sky and the comforting weight of a sword against his back.

He remembers the brown hair of the evil man who tried to kill so many of his friends. He can picture in his mind the look of fear on Toshiro’s face when had stabbed his sister instead of that devil. He can still feel the rage when he watched the white haired angel fall out of the sky, because of that man.      

If one were to ask him -which they wouldn’t because only he knows of the life he lived before- he would be able describe perfectly the very first moment he laid eyes on his white-haired lover. Well, he was a captain then, one that didn’t like him very much.

That white hair and teal eyes are the most prominent part of his memories, especially the moment when they first fell in love.

He could describe the feel of those petal lips during their first kiss, and the many that followed.

He could tell of the soft, cold feel that porcelain skin left against his own during their first time.

His first life was full of adventure, pain, war, ruin, love, and friendship. It would stand out amongst the many, many memories of his past lives as time went on. The emotions of that first life were so vivid and new, never to dull even as new pain and happiness made their way into his history.

_~The second time I met you, I was losing hope on ever finding you~_

Now, though, Ichigo’s life could be described as boring. Dull

He had gone through elementary and high school without any spectacular achievements. His friends came and went, none really sticking around. He’d stumbled upon a handful of people he had fuzzy memories of, but had scared them all off with information that they’d never told him. now he was studying medicine in Tokyo.

It wasn’t the best place to look for someone, he’ll admit, but he had no idea where to start. He was already three years into his six year medical degree. He’d never so much as caught a glance of the white-haired boy his heart ached for. Ichigo was starting to feel like he would never find him, and had almost given up all hope.

The redhead stood under the awning of a café, watching the rain flood the streets with a scowl on his face. He sighed through his nose and ran his hands through his hair.

 “Great. Already late to class, but there is no way in hell I am going out in this.”

 He was already soaked to the bone as the storm had started a few blocks before he found shelter. He wanted to feel sorry about missing class, but he really couldn’t bring himself to. He shook his hair out. Might as well go inside and warm up, and hopefully the rain would let up so he could make it to his second lecture of the day.

A bell jingled above his head as he entered the little shop. Heaving another sigh, Ichigo made his way up to the counter. It was nice and toasty inside the tiny store, and the smell of coffee and tea filled his lungs. He could feel his shoulder relax a bit in the atmosphere of the shop. His eyes searched the menu above the counter as he tried to decide what he wanted.

“What can I get for you, sir?” The cashier’s silky voice made his neck snap down. His mouth felt dry, and boy in front of him was so achingly familiar.

“Uh…” His mouth hung open dumbly as he stared at the person he had been practically looking for since he was old enough to walk. He had the same white hair and pale skin and everything Ichigo hoped he would. Those eyes were way more beautiful in person.

“Mister, are you alright?” The employee was waving his hand in front of Ichigo’s face.

“Uhm, sorry… I’ll… uh… I’ll have a caramel coffee with no whipped cream, please.”

“That will be $3.50, then.” Ichigo couldn’t stop looking at those eyes.

“Sir,” The cashier said sternly.

            “What? Oh! I’m sorry,” Ichigo said feeling the tips of his ears grow hot. He fished out his wallet and gave the boy his card. “Sorry…” he muttered one last time.

The boy shot him one last concerned look before turning to make his drink. Ichigo took a quick glance around the café to see the only occupants included him, the boy, and an extremely busty strawberry-blonde asleep at her table. Ichigo took a deep breath and leaned on the counter staring at the boy.

“So, what’s your name?” he asked, trying to play it off smoothly, even though his hands were definitely shaking.

The cashier didn’t so much as spare him a glance just turned slightly to tap at the nametag pinned to his apron. _Toshiro_ was written in golden ink and Ichigo’s heart soared.

“Nice to meet you, Toshiro!” The informal use of his name caused a glare to be sent at Ichigo before he went back to pouring caramel into the coffee. “I’m Ichigo. Uh, Kurosaki Ichigo.”

Ichigo flashed a nervous grin at Toshiro, hoping to ease the awkwardness of the one sided conversation. A blank look was on the shorter boy’s face as he set the finished coffee in front of the redhead. Ichigo fidgeted under the stare of the other boy.

“So… uhm… D’you, you know, wanna hang out sometime? Maybe?” Ichigo muttered quickly looking anywhere but those piercing eyes.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Toshiro raised a slim eyebrow.

“I mean if you don’t want to I’ll totally understand. I mean we kind of just met, you probably think I’m creepy, and I’ll totally understand if you never want me to come back here, and-”

“Sure.”

“Wait. What?”

Toshiro sighed and rolled his eyes, “Yes. I would like to go out with you sometime.”

            “Oh.  _Oh._ Okay, sweet!” Ichigo’s grin was close to splitting his face in half as the cute cashier scribbled his number on the side of the foam coffee cup.

“Call me some time,” he said as he capped the pen he was using and handed the drink to the redhead.

            “Yeah! Yes, totally! I’ll do that! See you later, Shiro!” He ran out into the cold waving to Toshiro the entire time; which may or may not have made the light-haired worker chuckle.

“What a dork.” Toshiro shook his head and started wiping down the counter, a small smile on his face.


	2. Third

_~The third time we meet you don’t love me, but that’s okay because I will love you anyways~_

“Ichigo-nii! I’m home!”

Ichigo looked up from the textbook he was working in to smile at his little sister Karin as she walked into the dining room. Behind her stood the familiar shock of white hair and Ichigo’s smile faltered slightly. Karin shrugged off her messenger bag onto the couch and jabbed a thumb at the boy behind her.

“I invited Toshiro over for dinner if you don’t mind,” she said already turning to the fridge for something to drink.

Brown eyes met teal for a moment before Ichigo went back to his homework, his brows pinching slightly in concentration. “It’s fine. He’s usually over all the time anyways, why bother asking?”

“Why do you think I just brought him over instead of texting you?” Ichigo rolled his eyes in response. Karin just shrugged asking Toshiro what he wanted to drink.

“Water will be fine, thanks.” A light pink tinged his cheeks as Karin smiled at him and turned to get a glass.

Ichigo watched as the younger boy watched his sister and he breathed a sigh through his nose, shaking his head to clear the fog in his brain. Karin and Toshiro had met in elementary school when the Kurosaki’s moved across the street from his family. Toshiro’s mother had come over to introduce herself, and had brought her son and a plate of warm cookies as well.

Toshiro had been the cutest little boy –he still is cute, but in a different way- he stood behind his mother with his thumb in his mouth and the other hand clutching her skirt. When Ichigo had bent down to introduce himself, the child’s eyes widened with fear and he had scurried behind his mother’s legs.

With an apologetic laugh, the boy’s mother explained he was very shy around strangers. Ichigo stood up, his initial shock gone, and invited them inside for lunch. Toshiro slowly walked with his mother into the house; Karin was sitting on the couch intently focused on her new Star Wars Lego set. When she looked up and saw him, Ichigo could see something click between them. Karin ran up Toshiro and asked him if he wanted to play, to his mother and Ichigo’s surprise the teal-eyed boy accepted immediately and ran over to the pieces spread over the carpet.

From that moment on Toshiro and Karin had been inseparable, even now in high school. Ichigo had been there the entire time, he had watched his sister and his past love grow up into the fantastic young adults they were now. With his parents gone he’d always been the one to go to every soccer game, every spelling bee, every birthday party, and watched as they matured. Ichigo had seen the love of his life (lives?) fall in love with his little sister ever so slowly, and it hurt.

 A sharp pain surging would shoot through his chest every time he saw the white-haired boy sneak glances when he thought no one was looking. Ichigo felt a piece of his heart fall out when Toshiro would smile fondly at Karin when her back was turned.

 It hurt so much, but he learned to ignore it. What used to feel like a knife in his chest was now simply a pin, a dull ache. This didn’t mean Ichigo had stopped loving the boy. No. Not even close, it was actually the opposite. Every time Toshiro’s gaze lingered on his crush, so filled with love and admiration, all Ichigo could do was fall more in love. Each loving look, each lingering touch, each blush would make Ichigo remember the times Toshiro had once done that to him.

Instead of feeling jealousy course though him like it used to, Ichigo’s heart simply filled with the hope that soon, one day, one life Toshiro would look at him that way.

…

Years later Ichigo was still forcing a smile.

Toshiro finally found the guts to ask Karin out during their second year of high school, it’s been seven years since then. Ichigo stands next to Toshiro at the altar, yet not in the way he wishes he were. The music plays and Ichigo forces himself to look away from his shoes towards the door where his sister is walking in with their dad. Toshiro gasps and his eyes glimmer with tears as his fiancé walked in, her dress flowing around her like water.

Ichigo couldn’t help but smile as Karin steps up to stand next to Toshiro. She truly was beautiful and Ichigo couldn’t have been prouder, his heart fills with love as his little sister married the one she loves. Though he could feel his heart finally shattering under his skin. He may love the white-haired man next to him, but he loved his sister as well and he would never do anything to hurt her. Even if that meant he would be hurting himself.

As the years go on Ichigo watched, with a never faltering smile, his sister live her life with his one true love. He watched the way they would look into each other’s eyes with faces of  happiness. He laughs along with them as they recount story, after story, of their mishaps and adventures.

 The only time Ichigo's smile ever reached his eyes around them was when he saw their child. Karin had finally gotten pregnant after years of trying and had given birth to a beautiful little girl. She may have had Karin's black hair, but she her eyes were Toshiro's. As she grew up she began to resemble Toshiro more and more each day. Ichigo loved his niece so much, she reminded him of how Toshiro was in their first life, so strong, courageous, and smart. She was beautiful, and Ichigo was glad she was born.

If he was the one Toshiro had chosen, they could have never produced such a perfect angel.

Ichigo spends the rest of his life alone. Karin insists he goes out to find someone, but he doesn’t. He could go on blind date after blind date, but he knew nothing would compare to Toshiro.

He’s content watching and remembering.


	3. Fourth

_~The fourth time we meet you’re really small, smaller than usual, and all I can do is watch over you~_

Ichigo looked up at the tall, iron gates in front of him, well, this was terrifying. When his mother told him about this babysitting job, he hadn’t thought he’d be taking care of a fucking monarch. Well, not a monarch just a very, very rich little boy.

“Great, how the crap do I even get in?” Obviously he couldn’t just push the doors open because then it would be pointless to even have them in the first place. _“Ichigo Kurosaki?”_ a voice called. Ichigo jumped and, did not, absolutely **did not** scream.

 “Yes?!” Ichigo winced at the way his voice cracked and cleared his throat before trying again. “Yes? That’s me.” Looking around he spotted a small screen to the left of the black metal, he walked over to peer at the image. If Ichigo was drinking something he would have turned and spit it out, and he had to swallow a laugh. _“Welcome. My name is Joshiro Ukitake; I am the owner of this house.”_

“Nice to meet you, sir. You probably already know why I’m here, but I’m here for the babysitting job?” Ichigo said smiling slightly at the man he once considered a close friend, a father figure even. _“Yes, I do know. Once moment, and I shall let you in.”_

“Thank you, sir.” Immediately after Ichigo had spoken the gates opened with a mechanical groan. He stepped inside and had to stop just to gawk at the large mansion in front of him. “Holy shit.” Once he had reached the front door he had to stop again, only this time to catch his breath, “I should’ve brought my bike.” When he finally gathered his bearings he straightened and rang the doorbell. Seconds later the ornate oak doors opened for him. Joshiro was standing in the open doorway, and honestly Ichigo had expected a butler.

“Come in, come in!” Joshiro ushered him inside, closing the door behind him. “I’m so glad you’re here! All of the other sitters have either quit, stolen something, or didn’t even show up!” The smile on his face was so sincere and bright that Ichigo was tempted to shield his eyes.

“Wow, you don’t have very good luck with sitters.” His eyes widened and he quickly tried to apologize. He never has figured out how to filter his words. Joshiro simply let out a sincere laugh, “It’s nice to see you’re an honest boy! Come let’s show you around.”

Joshiro took him around the house, starting at the kitchen; it was large and stocked with a large variety of food and utensils. The kitchen opened up to a brightly lit dining room, the large wall to wall windows were the source of the light. Joshiro showed Ichigo room after room, from a game room to a large garage. When they arrived at the den the first thing Ichigo noticed was the walls were filled with trophies and memorabilia. Joshiro’s eyes filled with light as he animatedly talked and told the stories behind most of the items.

A small smile formed on Ichigo’s face, Joshiro was looking well. His eyes sparkled and were filled with a love for life Ichigo rarely saw in the man so many lives back. His health was one hundred times better compared to the last time Ichigo met him, back in his first life.

“You look well, sir. I’m glad you are so healthy.” Ichigo said. Joshiro smiled that bright smile of his again and chuckled. “That’s good to hear considering I’m a cancer survivor! Ten years in remission! And I did create the cure after all.” Joshiro winked, his eyes crinkling in the corners with his smile as he directed Ichigo’s eyes to a wall dedicated to this achievement with a flourish of his arm. Ichigo whistled, “That is incredibly impressive, sir. You are the reason my mother is still with us today, thanks.”

“It was her fight, I simply created a way for her to win it. Also, enough with the formality, please, call me Joshiro. Come, it’s about time I introduced you to the reason you’re here in the first place” They left the den and headed up a grand swooping staircase to a set of thick, dark brown, wooden doors. The room was huge with floor to ceiling book shelfs filled to burst with hardbacks and paperbacks of all kinds. On the far left of the room was a spiral staircase leading up the loft that held even more books. Under the staircase in its shadow sat a low, round table with plush beanbags set around it. In a particularly ratty light blue one was a young boy. He was incredibly small, with pale skin and shocking white hair that he obviously inherited from his father.

“Toshiro, son, come meet your new babysitter!” The man called a soft smile on his lips. “I thought I told you I didn’t need a babysitter dad!” Toshiro hadn’t moved from his spot, he simply had turned to shoot a glare over his shoulder at Ichigo and his father.

Joshiro’s smile wilted and he heaved a sigh, they had obviously had this conversation more than once. “Son, I thought we had been over this. You’re eight years old. You cannot stay home alone.”

Toshiro turned away and crossed his arms while muttering some not-so-nice things under his breath. Joshiro rolled his eyes and faced Ichigo again, “Sorry about him, he’s very against this sitter thing.”

Ichigo breathed a laugh and shook his head to clear his thoughts. “It’s fine, I never had a babysitter, but I understand the resentment.” He could see the young boy look at him over his shoulder; he was listening to him, at least. “I actually had it worse though, I had to go everywhere with my dad, he didn’t trust babysitters. My mom was always working, but my dad works from home, so I was literally never alone.”

Joshiro nodded in understanding, “It is terrible having your parents breathe down your neck 24/7.”

“If you know that why won’t you let me stay home alone?!” Toshiro had a look of fury, and slight betrayal etched onto his young face. “Well, I said parents didn’t I? Ichigo isn’t a parent; he’s only 8 years older than you, so it doesn’t count.” With that parent had finally stumped child and Joshiro faced Ichigo again.

“My number’s on the fridge, I will be out till 12 o’clock ish. Bed time is at nine, though it takes at least 30 minutes to actually get him to go to bed.” “But dad, it’s Friday!” “Fine. He can stay up till ten, but no later, alright?” Ichigo nodded

“Good, there is money on the kitchen island, sixty of that is for you the rest you can use to order food.” Joshiro started walking out of the library to the garage.

“Sixty dollars? For one night? No, that’s way too much!” Ichigo protested but Joshiro simply shrugged him off saying if he could deal with Toshiro it was worth it. Once he was gone Ichigo just gawked at the door. Ichigo only remembered where he was when Toshiro coughed.

“So ‘new babysitter’,” the boy tried and failed to mimic his dad’s voice. “What’s your name?” Toshiro looked up at Ichigo- when had he gotten so close? -with his big round eyes. Ichigo had to look away to calm his nerves. Who would have thought he’d meet the man, er, boy of his dreams at a babysitting job? “Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki.” He said looking around the room to avoid eye contact with the kid in front of him.

“Hmm. Well, Kurosaki,” the boy sneered, “what do you have planned, so I can avoid it.”

“You, kid, need to respect your elders.” Ichigo bent down to so they were eye level. “Or else I’ll have to beat it in to ya.” His voice had dropped an octave; he normally used this voice when he was trying to intimidate the assholes at his school. Toshiro’s eyes widened and he visibly shivered, obviously it had worked on him too. “You- you can’t do that.” Ichigo just smirked, “Watch me.”

Everything in the room went still, if a pin were to drop it would echo. Ichigo’s smile widened and he started to chuckle. “W-what are you laughing at?” Toshiro’s eyes were wide with fear.

“Gotcha!” Ichigo said as he grabbed at Toshiro’s sides and began to tickle him mercilessly. They both fell to the floor ungracefully. Toshiro shrieked and tried to wiggle free, laughter pouring out of him against his will. Ichigo continued his assault moving his fingers to where he knows the white haired boy was most ticklish, from past experience, obviously. Ichigo’s laughter mixed in with Toshiro’s, and as Ichigo’s fingers moved from ribs the bottom of those tiny feet Toshiro’s screams and laughs grew louder. Tears started to form in the corner of his eyes and he started to kick at Ichigo, gasping for breath.

As soon as Toshiro’s laughs became a mix between silent giggles and loud bursts, he knew to stop. Ichigo was leaning over the boy trying to catch his breath; Toshiro was also trying to calm down taking large gulps of air. Ichigo sat back and helped the younger up as well. “See? Was that so bad?”

Toshiro opened his eyes and glared at him, “That was terrible.” He gasped out, not fully recovered from the assault. “Y’know it’s hard to believe that when someone is smiling.” Ichigo said smirking. Toshiro’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t known he was smiling. He recovered and instantly replaced the small grin with a frown and continued to glare. Ichigo simply shook his head and rolled his eyes at the elementary student.

Ichigo stood up, pulling Toshiro to his feet as well; Ichigo looked down at the boy. A soft smile made its way onto his face and he pushed at the spot in between Toshiro’s eyebrows, “You shouldn’t frown so much, you’re still so young. What do you have to frown about?” Toshiro turned to look up at Ichigo, surprised. “Besides if you keep glaring like that all the time you’re gonna get wrinkles. You’ll look eighty before you even hit your twenties! Though I guess you’d look fine as an old man considering you already have the white hair.” Ichigo rambled and Toshiro tried to shove him, which didn’t even make one of Ichigo’s fingers twitch.

“Shut up, jerk! My hair is hereditary!” Ichigo let out a laugh and lifted the eight year old up with one arm and carried him out of the library, with the baggage complaining the entire time. “I’m hungry after all that fun, how about we order pizza?” Well, that shut him up.

After the boys had eaten their fill of Hawaiian pizza, which Toshiro called gross and wouldn’t eat it till Ichigo shoved a piece in his mouth, they headed into the in home movie theater and settled into a plush couch to watch a movie. Ichigo was flipping through the DVDs when Toshiro’s head appeared from under his arm. “What are we gonna watch?” he questioned and looked up at Ichigo with those damn eyes.

“Uhm, I don’t know yet.” Ichigo looked away and back at the movies. He kept skimming through till he found one of his favorite movies of all time. “Wow. I’m surprised you guys actually have this.” He said as he lifted Road to El Dorado up to show to the little one under his arm. “Oh, yeah, that’s one of our family favorites. My mom loved it so we used to watch it all the time.”

The look on Toshiro’s face broke Ichigo’s heart. It was filled with love, nostalgia, and deep heart-wrenching sadness. Ichigo really didn’t want to ask, but he had to know. “What happened to your mom, Shiro?”

Toshiro slipped from under Ichigo and went back to the couch to burrow himself into the blankets. “I don’t know.” That stumped Ichigo and he raised an eyebrow at the white haired child. “You don’t know?” He put the movie in the DVD player and settled onto the couch with Toshiro, who snuggled closer and threw his legs into Ichigo’s lap.

“When I was five she told me she was going to the store and she just never came back. I waited for hours before I called Dad, who was at the office.” Toshiro started to pick at a frayed string coming off the blanket. “She’s not dead, Dad had been suspecting for a while she was cheating. He hasn’t looked for her or anything.” Ichigo hit play and the boy sitting on the moon cast his rod into the clouds. “That’s probably why he doesn’t want me to stay home alone even though we have the highest security; he thinks it’ll bring back bad memories.”

Ichigo pulled the young boy into a hug and rested his nose in the white fluff of hair. “I’m sorry. Shiro. That sucks.” Toshiro just shrugged into the hug, breathing in the comforting smell of Ichigo’s strawberry shampoo. “It’s okay. I don’t really miss her, I mean I have Dad and now I have you.”

Ichigo smiled and pulled back kissing Toshiro on the forehead, “I’m glad you trust me, but it’s always okay to cry, you know that.” “I know”

“Good! Now let’s watch this movie! It is literally the BEST!” They settled back into the couch, Toshiro snuggling into Ichigo’s side and started watching the pictures move.

 

Joshiro arrived to a pitch black house. The only light that was on was the flickering of the TV in the media room. As he walked in he saw the title screen of Road to El Dorado repeating itself, and two boys bundled together in blankets, fast asleep. A smile grew on his face as he saw Ichigo lying on his back with his head on the armrest of the couch; Toshiro was lying on his chest with his head nuzzling Ichigo’s neck.

Joshiro snapped a quick photo of them snuggled before turning off the TV and leaving the room. He sent Ichigo’s mother the photo with a quick text to say Ichigo would be staying the night.


	4. Fifth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the world of episode 304. I don't know lol.

_~The fifth time we meet we both look really odd and you love me back~_

Ichigo was thrown into his next life with force, literally. He’d died in a violent explosion when he was in his late teens previously, and some mad geniuses decided to pick his pieces up off the pavement and put him back together. He was stitched together one arm and a time, and charged with enough voltage to power an entire city.

In all his lifetimes he’d never experienced something quite as thrilling as being brought back to life. It was sudden, quick, and left him feeling as if an elephant had been dancing on his chest. The electricity running through his nerves had brought him up screaming and left his heart fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings.

“It worked.” He heard a sweet voice say to his left. Yuzu.

“Shocking,” Karin snickered to his right. She was holding on to a large lever that was hooked up to a giant machine pointing directly at the newly undead man. The ceiling above them was open to a stormy sky, lighting cracked across it every few seconds.

Ichigo was confused, dazed, and his mouth tasted like citrus. He brought a grey hand up to rub at his mouth, only to realize it was stitched tight. He screamed again, muffled and funny through the thick black string.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Yuzu said rushing forward with a sharp pair of scissors in her gloved hands. “We’d sewn your mouth shut in case you woke up hungry.”

“Yeah, we didn’t want to risk that again,” Karin added as she pointed to a big, gnarly scar on her jawline. “The last dickwad we tried to reanimate had really sharp teeth.”

Ichigo felt like he was going to pass out. He wondered if he even could pass out now that he was dead, or kind of dead. The thought made him light headed, and he was really worried he was actually going to keel over.

“There you go,” Yuzu said tugging the string out from Ichigo’s mouth. He could barely feel it, but what he did wasn’t very pleasant.

Yuzu handed him a mirror telling him to, “check out your new mods.” His skin was varying shades of grey all pulled together with the same black stitches that had kept his mouth shut. Thick screws stuck out from his neck and most of his joints, the right elbow creaked a little when he moved it. His hair was still violently orange, and Ichigo wasn’t sure how that made him feel.

“I gotta say,” Karin said getting close enough to Ichigo he went crossed eyed. “We did a great job on you. It wasn’t easy getting you those spare parts.”

“Spare parts?” Ichigo asked. His voice was felt thick and scratchy and sounded even worse. Reanimation was hard on the vocal chords, apparently.

“Yeah, that’s not all you dude,” Karin said pinching an especially dark section of skin. It looked rubberier than the rest and Ichigo could see a faint outline of what might’ve been a tattoo.

“A lot of your body didn’t survive the explosion,” Yuzu said with a sweet smile. Ichigo didn’t think anyone could talk about death with such a cheery expression. “Most of your parts came from old projects.”

“Don’t lie, Yuzu. Most of your pieces flew across the city and we just didn’t feel like looking for them,” Karin said. Ichigo looked down at his hands and noticed one was smaller and much more feminine than the other.

“Well, now what?” Ichigo asked. He’s never been in this situation. What do dead men do?

“Carry on as usual,” Yuzu said shrugging off her lab coat. Her dress underneath was pink and yellow with white flowers. It sent a chill down Ichigo’s spine.

“Go make some friends,” Karin said throwing a pair of pants at Ichigo. “Monsters are way more fun than humans.”

“Just make sure you’re home for dinner, I want to run a few more tests on you. Just to make sure you don’t decompose.”

With that they left discussing what they should try for their next experiment in hushed voices. Ichigo sat on the cold, metal table. Thunder clapped above him, and he rushed to dress and get the _hell_ out of there.

Outside was just as weird as the girls’ lab. It was constantly storming, though rain never fell, the trees never had leaves, and the buildings were all tall and crumbling. Ichigo dragged his way down the street looking at anything and everything. He passed a giant man with hair in his eyes and the body of a crab, another man made of metal and stone with a little pink cat sitting on his shoulder, and a woman with bees flying in and out of her mouth before he reached a small park.

Well, park isn’t really the right word. It was more like a slab of concrete with a broken slide and a set of swings moving on their own. He slumped down on one, scared that it was going to snap and pleased when it didn’t, and looked out at the strange world before him.

He didn’t know what he was going to do. He knew he could at least stay with the mad scientists, but then what would he do? Lay around and let them study him all day? Get a job? Were there jobs? Would he be an undead bank teller? A zombie cashier?

He heard the swing next to him start to move, but he assumed it was just the ghostly ambiance of the park.

“Are you alright?” A voice asked and Ichigo nearly felt his heart stop again. He whipped around to the person to be greeted with the sight of fluffy white hair and fluffier ears.

Toshiro sat on the swing, pushing himself back and forth with his heels, his head titled to one side. He had big dog ears twitching at each buzz and hum of the park and a tail waving lazily against the ground.

“Uh, yeah,” Ichigo squeaked, and he cleared his throat to sound less like a prepubescent boy. “I’m new around here.”

“I could tell. You smell like citrus,” the wolfman said. He scratched his chin with his claws before reaching one out to tap at the stitches on Ichigo’s shoulder. “I’ve never seen one of Yuzu and Karin’s, erm, _projects_ look as good as you.”

If Ichigo were still alive his face you be on fire, but he’s not so instead he smirked. “You calling me good-looking?”

It turned out the wolfman is very, very much alive and his cheeks burn with the intensity of a thousand suns. He snatched his claws away from Ichigo.

“Th-that’s not what I meant,” Toshiro said, he growled low in his throat. It might’ve been threatening at any other moment, but with his pink cheeks and fluffy ears pressed flat to his head Ichigo thought he looked adorable.

“Are you sure?” Ichigo asked, he bit his lip to hold back his laughter. Toshiro bristled, his tail standing on end and teeth bared.

“You know, I was trying to be nice, but fuck this,” he said stopping his swing and standing.

“Wait,” Ichigo said, he sounded desperate even to his own ears. He grabbed onto the back of the wolfman’s hoodie stopping him form stomping away. “I, uh, don’t go?”

Toshiro crossed his arms and heaved a sigh, “You’re really awkward, aren’t you?”

Ichigo twitched, his limbs heavy as he met Toshiro’s soft, sympathetic gaze. The wolfman laughed, clear like bells, at Ichigo’s pout. He pulled Ichigo’s cold hand into his warm one and patted it twice.

“Let’s start over, shall we?” Toshiro smiled down at the mismatched man and grinned with sharp canines. “I’m Toshiro Hitsugaya, resident werewolf.”

“Ichigo Kurosaki, uh, new to the undead scene,” Ichigo said, his voice dry but with a hint of humor curling at his mouth.

“Welcome to the Realm of Monsters,” Toshiro said. He lifted Ichigo’s hand up to his nose and sniffed it. “Yep, definitely one of Yuzu’s.”

…

Living with monsters was a lot easier than Ichigo could’ve imagined. They didn’t fight like normal people did and they took the time to memorize every one’s names.

“Ichigo,” a harsh, small voice said. His eyebrow twitched at the annoying flap of wings in his ear as Rukia landed on his shoulder. She rested her weight on her pitchfork leaning over into Ichigo’s vision.

“Hello, Rukia,” Ichigo said, dull and uninterested. He’d known the succubus for a handful of months now, but he still hadn’t decided whether he hated or adored her. She was tiny and cute, but that tongue of hers was sharp. Not to mention the stupid _pitchfork_ constantly stabbing into his skin.

“Where were you? I’ve been looking for you,” she said pinching the shell of his ear with her little hands. He yelped and grabbed her by the back of her dress.

“What’s with you and hurting me?” Ichigo said, whining and rubbing at the cold, throbbing skin. His heart might not be beating very often, but shit still hurt. He pulled a struggling Rukia up to his face.

“Let me go, you beast,” she said, kicking her legs out at him. “There’s more important things to deal with than your pathetic emotions.”

“Now, that was just rude.”

Rukia tossed her pitchfork and it stuck between his eyebrows. He cursed and dropped her, only for her batwings to pull her back up.

“It’s Toshiro,” she said as she pulled her weapon out from his forehead. A slow stream of thick, cold blood dripped down the bridge of Ichigo’s nose as he took off running. He barely heard Rukia screaming after as he bolted down the crumbling street to the big, dark castle in the middle of town. The wolfman had locked himself in his quarters for the last couple of days because of the moon cycle, something about the new moon and not being pretty.

He pulled himself up and over the fence, not wasting time going around to the front, Rukia’s wings were white noise as he rammed his way through doors and hallways.

“Shiro,” he said voice cracking as he opened Toshiro’s door. Last month the door had been locked tight during the full and new moon, and Ichigo’s gut twisted in worry. The room was dark, despite the curtains being wide open. There wasn’t any moonlight to illuminate, and streetlamps weren’t very common this close to the castle.

An animalistic growl reached his ears from within the depths of the room, and as Ichigo poked his head in further it broke off into a whimper.

“Ichigo,” Rangiku stepped forward into the sliver of light the hall was letting into the room. The grin that usually curved her plump lips was gone. “You might not want to be here.”

“I brought him,” Rukia said from over the undead man’s shoulder.

“Rukia.” Rangiku whined and stomped her feet making her giant bosoms jiggle. She pulled off her witch hat and ran a hand through her hair. Ichigo swallowed heavily when she stepped up to him shoving her nose right under his with a finger shoved into his chest.

“You hurt him and I will curse your ass back to whatever limbo Karin and Yuzu brought you back from.” With that she pushed past him into the lantern light and shot him into Toshiro’s room.

“Rangiku? Wait, what do I do?” He asked pounding on the door.

“Figure it out,” Rangiku said back and the tap of her heels disappeared down the hall.

That pathetic whimper was back, louder now that the girls were both gone. Ichigo turned his head over his shoulder and scratched at the bolts on his left shoulder. He was an undead monster, why was his heart pounding so hard?

“Shiro?” He called softly into the room. Following the sounds of rustling and whining his calves hit the edge of the bed. Ichigo leant down and pressed his palm down against the bare mattress.

“Ichigo?” Toshiro’s breathless voice said not more than a foot in front of him. There was more rustling before hot hands cupped his face.

“Hey,” Ichigo said softly as to not scare the wolfman. “You okay?”

“Can you see me?” Toshiro said, voice pinched and nervous, he sounded scared.

“I can’t see anything,” Ichigo replied. He couldn’t except the weird wrinkles of colors his eyes were projecting into the darkness.

“Good.” Toshiro wrapped his arms around Ichigo and pulled. Ichigo yelped as he was tugged on top of the wolfman. Toshiro nuzzled his face into Ichigo’s cold neck, avoiding the screws sticking out from the sides. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

That confused Ichigo. He’d seen Toshiro’s last full moon transformation, he’d been sweating and itchy all day and as night broke, he’d screamed and contorted into a giant white wolf. He had snapped at Ichigo and fled to his room at the castle with Rangiku chasing after him and throwing apologies over her shoulder.

It couldn’t be worse than that, could it?

“Why?” Ichigo said. He moved off of Toshiro to slip between the wall and the warm body, pulling the wolfman closer. His hands lifted to play with the soft hair at the nape of his neck.

“I’m ugly,” Toshiro said as he pushed his face further into Ichigo’s shoulder Ichigo noticed a sudden lack of twitching ears. His brows pinched, tugging at the stitches there, as his hand ran higher to feel the top of Toshiro’s head. Nothing. Nothing, but fluffy hair.

“Are you-?” Ichigo’s breath caught in his throat, and if Toshiro couldn’t hear his heart beat, he’d be impressed. Though, he might not be able to, now that he’s y’know.

“Human,” Toshiro said his lips hot against Ichigo’s skin. “You saw what happened on the full moon, when my wolf half took over.”

Ichigo nodded.

“Well, the new moon is the opposite,” he said. “Humans aren’t welcome around here. They’re disgusting and evil. I can get away with the wolf thing, but during the new moon I have to hide.”

Ichigo pulled him tighter against his chest. Toshiro’s skin was hot, it was always hot, but tonight it was hotter. The new moon’s influence boiling through his veins, his face was probably flushed and adorable. Ichigo suddenly regretted the lack of light.

“You’re not disgusting, and you’re far from ugly,” Ichigo said, softly into Toshiro’s hair slightly hoping he wouldn’t hear. Toshiro huffed a laugh through his nose, the breath puffing against Ichigo’s tight skin and sending a chill down his spine.

“Best compliment of the year.”

“Shut up before I leave you in here to suffer,” Ichigo said, grumbling as he nipped lightly at the Toshiro’s human ear.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Ichigo didn’t grace that with an answer and just simply pressed his lips against Toshiro’s damp forehead. He couldn’t leave Toshiro, and he’s has the years behind him to prove it.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to request chapters!


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